Pictures at an Exhibition

Well, not too much damage done to those that fell off the wall, and they're now up there with "belt and braces". But another problem - where we dabbed white paint to cover marks on the wall, the paint has dried a horrid colour and looks awful. Am just going to try to contact estates dept direct and see if they have a drop of paint so I can go over the marks with a sponge. If I can't get the actual paint they used, there's no point trying to cover it up - i've already tried that.

Project Rationale - final

The association of kitchen sinks and drama emerges from the British Social Realist movement which thrived in the 1950s and 60s. This movement spotlighted working class culture, even glamorised it. The legacy of plays like “Look Back in Anger”, films such as “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and iconic documentaries like “Cathy come Home” can be detected today in our favourite “soaps”. Such cultural products, set in the ordinary domestic environment, explore the compelling moral issues of the day and in so doing, catalogue the changing nature of society.

I had hoped that my kitchen photographs would evoke some of this drama through capturing an environment busy with tell-tale evidence about the people who lived there and how they ran their lives. What I discovered when I neared the end of my shooting schedule was that very few of the kitchens I had photographed did convey this ongoing drama of people’s daily lives. The kitchens were very much under control and not giving much away. My first inclination was to go in search of more kitchens that fitted the original concept, but encouraged by my tutors, I looked again at the documentary evidence I had produced and thought about what it had to say about contemporary living.

The ten photographs here are of kitchen sinks which are all contained in the same terraced row in Padiham (photograph below). One of them is my own sink - nearly all of them are very tidy. The order and control of the environment is in stark contrast to the chaotic “workshop” of the kitchens featured in kitchen sink dramas from post war up until the 1970s. Somewhere along the way, the function of the kitchen has been hidden away as home owners, perhaps inspired by makeover TV shows and glossy magazines, have become increasingly conscious of style and form.
Further, these photographs might be seen as evidence of a cultural shift that is manifest not only at a domestic level, but also nationally. Just as we have stopped making things in the kitchen, Britain has ceased to be a great manufacturing nation and much of our industry is clean and conceptual. So too our kitchens have veered towards the conceptual - an upmarket kitchen website spells out the core ethos behind its products; modern purism:

“a powerful, poetic dialogue between presentation and concealment” (www.poggenpohl.de)

This sounds more like a dubious moral code than a selling point for a kitchen. What is being concealed and what presented I wonder? I’m not suggesting that the kitchens featured in this exhibition haven’t seen the dramas and tensions of preparing the occasional ‘Sunday roast’ for the in-laws, but there is evidence of these kitchens being less a “workshop” and more of a lifestyle indicator.

There is the underlying feeling in these photographs that presentation is at least as important as production.

Over and Out (Nearly)

This is pretty much the last installment of my final integrated project blog, apart from posting my revised and final Rationale. This doesn't mean the project won't continue - it just won't be subject to a college deadline!

Went in to college this morning to fix the ten kitchen sinks to the wall and put up the shelf for the lightbox. I thought all had gone well until I received an e-mail from Bob to say there was a problem with the adhesive where I had stuck foamboard to foamboard. This is strange as I had tested the system on my own walls for a nearly a week, but I remember I had to reposition 2 or 3 of the tiles this morning and maybe pulling them off the walls weakened that part of the structure. Won't know until tomorrow.

Intend to go in early in the morning, fix the adhesive problem, hang my titles and rationale and install the lightbox. Then, hand in my supporting material to Richard.

Pracitcal Matters - 2

Having obtained the paper that Kaylynn uses, I find that Ilford don't produce a profile for this paper and my printer. Undeterred, I played about with a few settings with horrid results - very flat and colour miles off. Because of this, I have decided to use the paper I bought at Focus - Tecco digital photo inkjet. The results I had with this paper were good, I was just excited about them being even better on the fibre silk. The advantage of sticking with Tecco is that it is not as heavy as the Ilford paper which is 310 gsm, making it easier to spraymount to foamboard and then cut.

So, printed out yesterday, sprayed (outside), left the photographs to "set" overnight and have cut them out this morning. They look quite neat.

I painted the shelf for the lightbox yesterday, it needs another coat today. I still have to sort out what I'm displaying on the box.

Re thinking my exhibition plans

Following a meeting with John which helped me to consolidate my thoughts and see my work in perspective, I've had a rethink about my exhibition. I had already decided that I was throwing two ideas into the pot when I wrote my rationale, I'm now rationalising the presentation by concentrating on my original idea of the kitchen sinks. There's enough material there, it's just having the confidence to do that, if I can present the concept and my findings clearly enough. So need to do a bit more thinking and research and do a re-write.

Plan for layout of exhibition

Not the nicest photo, but it gives an idea of how I plan to arrange my images (subject to measurement of the wall). The scale is roughly correct, each centimeter = 1 inch. (I know you shouldn't mix them but it seemed convenient at the time!).

The ten rectangles are for the kitchen sinks, the six squares are for details of other kitchen objects/vistas. The first largish rectangle on the left represents an A3 sheet for my Rationale. I plan that the lightbox will go under the Rationale, but can't confirm that until I have had a closer look at the wall.

Project Rationale - 2nd draft

I haven't posted the first draft up here, it was too unwieldy but am posting this version which may be subject to change if John or Richard see it tomorrow.

My interest in the domestic interior arises from my curiosity about people and the everyday objects with which we choose to surround ourselves.
The ten photographs of kitchen sinks exhibited here are all contained in the same terraced row, one of those sinks is mine. What I find interesting about juxtaposing them is that superficially, they are all equal – same sized and shaped house, same location but each is subtly different and this is down to choices exercised by the occupants of the house. By looking at the photographs I would hope to stimulate people’s curiosity about these absent occupants, and more broadly, about the nature of human relationships both with and within the domestic setting.
The Kitchen is the symbolic heart of the house. It’s where we get on with the everyday business of living; we relate the events of the day, we eat, clean up, argue, laugh, and cry (imagine this soundtrack as you look at the empty kitchens). The sinks are in a state of waiting, like a stage waiting for the play to begin, they wait for ‘their’ people to come home from work or school. The sinks are an impartial witness to the dramas of people’s lives. I don’t necessarily mean ‘life and death’ scale dramas, even a seemingly minute event might affect someone’s equilibrium and becomes the drama for that day.
The association of kitchen sinks and drama emerges from the British Social Realist movement which has its roots in the 1950s and blossomed in the 60s. This movement spotlighted working class culture, even glamorised it. The legacy of plays like Look Back in Anger, films like Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, and famous documentaries like Cathy come Home can be detected now in our favourite ‘soaps’. Such cultural ‘products’ explore the compelling moral issues of the day and in so doing, catalogue the changing nature of society.
Our emotional response to art often arises from personal identification with some aspect of the subject and with regard to the second piece of work on display, these are photographs of kitchen objects or vistas that drew my “emotional” attention. Apart from opening a window on the “domesticity of strangers” there are particular objects that prompt contemplation in their own right.
“Objects gain a new aura merely because they are selected and isolated, and looked at again with new eyes. The act of choosing to focus attention on them changes what they are, or how you perceive them.”
What unites both pieces of work, apart from the obvious kitchen theme, is that they are both about people without actually featuring them.
There is a selection of digital and medium format work on display. I used ambient light hoping for a more atmospheric representation of the interiors.

(quotes are referenced as footnotes) both from Ideal Home - A detached look at modern living

Presentation of Work

I have managed to get the paper that Kaylynn Deveney recommeded and whilst she uses gator board, I'm using foamboard which should give a similar effect. Above are two pictures of exhibtion layouts from Kaylynn's website.

On the lightbox front, I've spoken to Pat's husband and now have a clearer idea of how to "install" the lightbox! He is even going to get the required hardware for me which is wonderful!

Foamboard & Lightbox Thoughts

I have been surfing the net for tips on mounting photographs to foamboard. There is no shortage of advice and most people recommend fixing the image with spraymount and then cutting to the required size.

Tried this but got traces of the sticky spraymount on my metal ruler and the blade started to stagger a bit towards the end. Have now fixed another image on the foamboard and am going to leave it overnight, clean by ruler with spirit or similar and see if it goes any better tomorrow. Although I can't imagine that spraymount actually dries, it might be better cut later rather than immediately after appliation. I hope so. The smell gives me a headache too, if I'm going ahead and mounting all my images, I'm going to do the spraying outside so I'll need a decent day.

Got the lightbox off Richard which is great. Now have to figure out how to make it part of the exhibition. Fix to the wall (no fixings and quite heavy - though everything to do with DIY seems impossible to me so I'll ask Paul, Pat's hubby, if he has any ideas - he's the handiest man I know) or perhaps have a small table or shelf fixed to the wall??? All needs to be carefully considered.

Had a good look at my transparencies - I think I'll only be able to get 12 onto the lightbox - 2 A4 sheets of six 6 x 6 cm.

Invitations

Have popped invitations for the exhibition through the doors of my neighbours (all kitchen volunteers) and posted some out to friends.

Did have the idea of giving each person a picture of their own kitchen with the invite but time is running short and I've been busy experimenting with cutting foamboard, of which, more above.

A2 paper & list of things to do

Having heard from Kaylynn that she likes to use Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper, I have ordered some today from Process Supplies Ltd (www.process-supplies.co.uk) considering I've order A2 I thought £34.00 was pretty good for 10 sheets. I have agreed in advance to use Pat's large format printer (see link to Pat's blog on Energy & Environment above).

Also ordered, from the same place some 6 x 6 masks in A4 sheet form. This is so I can mount some trannies and display them on the light box for the exhibition. Richards suggested attaching a loop so that people can examine them too - so need to follow that up.

Need to scan a few more trannies so it gives me the option of using them in the exhibtion.

I have a page of ideas to organise and make coherent for my rationale.

Again on the practical side, I also need to see how I find fixing a photo to foamboard and then cutting it to size. Then I'll know whether I'm framing or foamboarding!

Prompt response from Kaylynn Deveny

At the start of this blog I posted a eulogy in praise of the work of KayLynn Deveny whose work I really admire. I decided to e-mail her and ask a few questions regarding her MO and how she presents her work. She was kind enough to reply straight back:


 How do you go about your work from a technical point of view – camera, lenses, printing processes?
I photographed Bert with one medium format camera and a single standard lens. I first used an old Bronica. When I dropped that and crunched it, I got a Hasselblad. I used only available light, no strobe. I usually shot Fuji 400 or 800 ASA color neg film. I scanned the negatives on an Imacon. My prints are pigmented ink jet prints made on an Epson 11880 using Ilford Gold Fiber Silk paper.

2. How important to you is the technical aspect of photography (vis a vis the creative result – or are the two hand in hand?)

Well, you can make a great a photograph but if you expose it poorly or print it poorly, that's all anyone will see. I think mastery of technical aspects of photography is mandatory. 3.
How do you like to display work for exhibition (this is topical for us at the moment, we are about to put on our end of year show!) One of the pictures on your website seems to show unframed photographs, annotated below – how is this effect achieved, what are the photos mounted onto?
I usually show the prints in two sizes. There are 10 -15 prints that are 17" x 17". These prints are accompanied by 5" x 2.75" handwritten captions by Bert. These larger prints are typically presented in a linear fashion.
There are also smaller pieces that incorporate both my photograph and Bert's annotation into one piece - as they are in the book. Those pieces measure 6" x 8.75". There are usually about 40 of the small pieces and they are arranged in large clusters of images rather than in a straight line.
Both the large and small prints are mounted onto aluminum with a Gator board backing that makes them appear as if there are floating about an inch away from the wall. The prints are put onto the aluminum with pressure sensitive adhesive and then they are laminated. This has proven to be a good presentation for traveling the prints and it works well within the cluster configurations.
Among those clusters - sprinkled in like memories - are a few of Bert's poems, drawings, lists and old family photographs. Those pieces are reproduced as facsimiles of the originals and each one sits on a tiny white shelf that is made to fit the piece. I have a show at Blue Sky Gallery opening on June 5th. Sometime shortly after I will have updated installation shots on my website. Seeing a photo of the clusters might be helpful to you.

Hope that helps. All the best,

KayLynn